Florida politics, policy, and plain-spoken analysis by Gary Fineout.

Insurance

April 28, 2016

Florida may have a new insurance commissioner on Friday, then again it might not.

But Gov. Rick Scott and members of the Florida Cabinet will hold their third meeting in the last few weeks in a yet-another effort to reach a consensus on who should replace the outgoing Kevin McCarty(pictured left with Scott). As has been well-reported, Scott and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater have been unable to reach agreement on who should replace McCarty. That's created a stalemate because Florida law requires both officials to agree on a replacement.

Atwater has painted the standoff as a byproduct of a process that he says was created to make sure that top officials were deliberative in such an important hire.

Ok.

But perhaps it would be good to take a brief history lesson in how we got here, and why in reality, the process now being used has never really been tested before. And along the way, maybe ask the architect of all this what he thinks about his handiwork (he actually kind of blames Jeb Bush.)

It would be tempting to trace all of this back to the Civil War (yes, really) but let's just say that it became recognized that in the '90s that Florida's governor was considered one of the weaker chief executives in the country.That's because the governor shared power with other elected officials - and in some instances had little control over important areas such as education.

Voters in 1998 were asked to approve a sweeping overhaul of Florida government. This proposal by the FloridaConstitution Revision Commission did a number of things that has generated a lot of debate since then. The education commissioner was changed from an elected to an appointed position. A new State Board of Education (appointed by the governor) became responsible for hiring the commissioner. The governor and Cabinet, which used to be the state education board, no longer had that responsibility. The Secretary of State went from an elected position to an appointed position. And the elected positions of Treasurer and Comptroller would be merged into one new one: the chief financial officer.

As the commission was crafting this proposal, the plan was to also remove the agriculture commissioner from the Cabinet but an uproar from agricultural interests nixed this idea. That eventually created flareups because that leaves four voting members when the governor and Cabinet meet - and leading to discussions on how to weight certain votes so a decision can be made.

Flash forward to 2002: State legislators were under the gun to come up with new laws to put all of these above reforms into action (The amendment did not go into effect immediately). The changes in education, particularly in higher education, sparked an enormous firestorm.

When it came to creating the chief financial officer position, a key argument began to quickly emerge: Should the CFO have complete sway over the regulation of both the insurance and banking sectors - and invariably the large amount of campaign donations that would come from those seeking influence over such important parts of the state economy? In the past, the two jobs were split between the comptroller and treasurer. The treasurer was in essence the insurance commissioner. This led to a public tug-of-war between Comptroller Bob Milligan and Tom Gallagher, who was treasurer and planned to run for CFO.

It was state legislators, including a powerful Republican from Polk County, Rep. J.D. Alexander that came up with the compromise: The jobs of insurance commissioner and banking commissioner would be picked by the governor and the new shrunken Cabinet. And furthermore, there was this addition: The job of insurance commissioner would require BOTH the governor and CFO to agree on who they wanted for the job. The law also states that both elected officials must also agree to fire someone from the position.

Since this was created in 2002 there's been only person to hold the job of appointed insurance commissioner: McCarty. And he's been an ultimate survivor - thanks in no part to the bifurcated law that Alexander helped draw up. CFO Alex Sink wanted to fire him, but then-Gov. Charlie Crist refused to go along. Then during the storm over Bailey's departure it came out that Scott wanted him gone. But Atwater at the time refused to concur and McCarty remained in place until he submitted his resignation earlier this year.

Alexander himself tried to change the law that allowed McCarty to remain in place, saying he was wrong in how they crafted it. He pushed a bill to require that the commissioner be subject to a confirmation vote every two years. It failed to pass.

Now here we are - in a situation that has really not happened since the law took effect.

McCarty was supposed to resign effective May 2 - but then he offered to stay on until 45 days after a successor is chosen - to ensure that Florida has someone in place during hurricane season that starts June 1. Scott's own general counsel, however, maintained that McCarty couldn't do this because the governor and Cabinet had accepted his resignation and could not alter that date without - t'dah - a vote where both the governor and CFO agree. Not so fast, maintained Atwater's team: All the governor and Cabinet did was set a schedule to appoint a replacement. They never "formally" accepted it.

So how does Alexander view all this and how his creation has fared? Well, you could say he waxed a bit poetic about it all, but it sounds as if he is calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam to assert themselves more. (So far Bondi and Putnam have called on Atwater and Scott work out their differences.)

"The genius of the American system of government isn't just democracy but of divided government,'' he said in a message. "Consequently, I wanted the CFO to have the lead over mgt of financial services and insurance. We were forced by the governor of the day to give more authority to his office. An unfortunate outcome of a four member Cabinet. At this point, hopefully the other Cabinet officers will weigh with a choice and consensus will prevail."

Alexander explained that "the governor in my opinion has plenty of power, the constitution seems to give principle authority to the CFO in these matters." He added that the decision all those years ago to keep the agriculture commissioner on the Cabinet "complicated" matters and required them that the governor be given a supervote on certain decision.

"The answer is to lose or gain one Cabinet member," he added. "In the order to pass a bill the governor required a larger role. It was part of the compromise, which we knew had this potential. My guess is the pressure will build and this will be resolved."

January 17, 2015

(After a bit of a hiatus, Inside the Tally Bubble news is returning for 2015)

VICTORY BRINGS BIG CHECKS TO SCOTT CAMPAIGN AND PARTY STAFF

Campaign reports filed this week from the Republican Party of Florida show that Gov. Rick Scott's campaign manager Melissa Sellers and other top staffers with the RPOF got some hefty paychecks after a hard fought campaign season.

Campaign reports show that for most of the year Sellers was pulling in bi-weekly payments equivalent to just under $152,000 a year.

But on Nov. 18 - the day after it was announced Sellers would take over as chief of staff for Scott starting on Dec. 1 - the party stroked her a check for $17,500 which would equal about 6 weeks salary.

Back on the state payroll Sellers is earning $150,000 a year - or $1,000 less than her predecessor Adam Hollingsworth.

Sellers wasn't the only person who received a sizable check after the elections were over according to new RPOF filings.

Just some of the others include:

Frank Terraferma, director of House campaigns for the party who helped the GOP get a supermajority in the state House, got a check for more than $55,000 in the middle of November. Terraferma, who was among those who testified at the redistricting trial, appeared to be earning the equivalent of about $162,000 a year.

Tim Saler, deputy campaign manager for Scott, received a check for $16,250 on Nov. 18. or about the equivalent of six weeks pay based on what the campaign was paying him over the length of the campaign.

Matt Moon, communications director for the Scott campaign who departed Florida soon after Scott's victory, got the equivalent of 6 weeks pay on Nov. 18 when he received a check for $16,250.

Chris Finkbeiner, a deputy chief of staff for Scott who became policy director for the re-election campaign, also got a check for $16,250 on Nov.18. A week later it was announced he was going to work for well-known (and Scott friend) lobbyist Bill Rubin.

Pablo Diaz, the campaign manager for Attorney General Pam Bondi, received a $25,000 check on Dec. 31.

Others who got bonus checks include Jackie Schutz, now the governor's communications director, Joel Springer, head of Senate campaigns for the party, Ashley Ross, Senate finance director for the party and Kristin Seidel Lamb, House campaigns finance director.

J.D.'s ROLE IN CABINET INTRIGUE (A HISTORY LESSON)

This past week thrust the Florida Cabinet into the limelight amid the revelations that none of the 3 current members - Adam Putnam, Bondi and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater - apparently knew ahead of time that Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey was forced to resign by the Scott administration. One of the allegations is that Bailey was told he did not have support of Cabinet members but the three Cabinet members have said that just isn't true.

Immediately after that story came out there were rumblings that Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty was also under pressure to resign. When asked about it a spokeswoman for Scott said no announcements were forthcoming, but then said it was good to get "fresh ideas and new leadership." A spokeswoman for Atwater maintained there was "no deal" to get rid of McCarty.

But forcing out the insurance commissioner is a bit tricky thanks to former Sen. J.D. Alexander.

Alexander was in the Florida House at the time legislators were required to craft a way to deal with the new CFO position. (Voters approved a change in 1998 that collapsed the comptroller and treasurer posts on the Cabinet into one job.)

There was much concern that Tom Gallagher, who planned to run for the CFO post in 2002, would have too much power, including the ability to hire and fire the insurance commissioner.

So a compromise was born. The insurance commissioner would report to the governor and Cabinet, but furthermore it would take more than just a majority to hire or fire that person. It would require agreement between the CFO and the governor.

McCarty was hired for the post and approved by then-Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet.

And he's been there ever since.

One key reason is that there hasn't been agreement among top officials on whether to force him out.

While she was in office as CFO Alex Sink made no secret of her displeasure in several instances with McCarty. But McCarty had a strong supporter with Gov. Charlie Crist.

When Scott came into office in 2011 word is he wanted a change. But it was newly-elected Atwater who backed McCarty.

Part of what's been lost in all this is that McCarty has been seen by those who follow the insurance industry as someone who has been good at carrying out the agenda of his bosses - whether it was Crist or Scott.

For his part Alexander, who got upset with McCarty over how the state dealt with State Farm and other insurance issues, later came to regret his role in how the insurance commissioner was picked.

He tried to change law to require the commissioner to be subject to a confirmation vote every 2 years, but the proposal did not pass.

November 27, 2013

Scott's fundraising committee Let's Get to Work has updated its numbers again this week and the total for the month of November now stands at nearly $5.84 million. That pushes the total raised by the committee since the summer of 2011 to $25.1 million. This is the magic mark for Scott who predicted he would spend that much money to define his opponent in early 2014.

The latest push came courtesy of contributions given last week from many of the big political names and companies tied to Jacksonville and Northeast Florida. (Or what could also be known as AdamHollingsworth territory, Scott's chief of staff who is a former CSX executive and worked as chief of staff to then-Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton.)

Florida Blue, one of the state's largest health insurers, and several of its affiliates kicked in $187,500 last week, while well-known Jacksonville businessman Tom Petway donated $50,000. Steve Halverson, CEO of The Haskell Company gave $15,000, former Jacksonville mayor John Delaney contributed $750 and the firm of Wiles Boselli contributed $2,500. Susie Wiles was Scott's campaign manager in 2010.

Democrat Crist also posted new numbers this week. His political committee - Charlie Crist for Florida - has moved past the $1 million mark since entering the race at the start of the month. His new total stands at $1.28 million.

Crist has 45 contributors so far, including the Institute of Cardiovascular Excellence of Ocala, which gave the former governor a $100,000 check on Saturday. Crist also received a $15,000 check from Daryl Parks, who is the law partner of Benjamin Crump. Crump has been representing the parents of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense, was acquitted of second-degree murder charges filed against him.

Another donor to Crist is Democratic mega-donor Barbara Stiefel, who gave $100,000. According to the Tampa Bay Times she is a retiree from Coral Gables who gave large sums last year to "super PACs" that were backing President Barack Obama.

February 07, 2011

Gov. Rick Scott - after flying to Eustis to roll out his budget proposal at an event set up by Tea Party leaders - spent dinner with Sen. J.D. Alexander, Sen. Don Gaetz and Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner.

Here's the main things that they talked about during the conversation that began in the famed Florida Room of the mansion before it shifted to the State Dining Room.

* Gaetz and the governor talked with the others about the recent decision of Vision Airlines to come to Florida.

* Gaetz expressed his disappointment to Scott regarding some recent Visit Florida ads airing in Palm Beach County. Gaetz told Scott the ads featured Northwest Florida officials. He said he didn't understand the logic of targeting people from Palm Beach County to come north to the beach. Scott seemed surprised by the ads as well.

* Alexander, the Senate budget chief, told Scott that he had had the chance to meet the new Department of Management Services Secretary Jack Miles and that he had the right professional qualifications for the job.

* Alexander also said that he just been taking a first glance at Scott's budget proposal. He was urged to "just pass it." Later in the night that theme would be repeated when one of Scott's top aides would suggest to all three senators that the nation will be watching to see if the Legislature enacts Scott's "fiscally conservative" budget.

* There was some general conversation about Scott's flight to and from Eustis being waylaid because of bad weather. Scott also talked about the crowd that showed for the event. He briefly mentioned that those in the Tea Party - who he said included Democrats and independents - don't want to be "disappointed' by those they have supported. Scott also noted that he has had bigger crowds at Tea Party events than at Republican Party of Florida organized events.

* Gaetz said lawmakers were likely to start looking this year at the operations of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, which is responsible for providing money to help developers build low-income housing. Alexander said he has begun questioning why the corporation needs any more money right now when there are plenty of empty houses in Florida due to the recession. Scott noted that he did not recommend any additional funding for them.

* Scott and Alexander started talking about property insurance. The governor repeated his vow to make changes this year to Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-created carrier of last resort. "Everyone understands we need to fix Citizens this year,'' Scott said.

* During dinner, Scott repeated a line from his budget rollout where he said "we shouldn't have fiefdoms" in state government. This came from a discussion on why on Florida's highways there were separate weigh stations for Department of Transportation and interdiction stations for the Department of Agriculture.

* Scott expressed his amazement that the state does not have a unified e-mail system for all of state government.

* Scott also said he is a "few days" away from naming someone in state government to take control of economic development efforts. This was part of an overall discussion where Alexander asked questions about whether or not Scott has been successful in talking to companies moving here, and what kinds of things he is hearing about those who may, or may not, move to Florida.

Alexander also asked about Scott's proposal to have more control over economic development incentive dollars. Alexander asked if Scott would be opposed to some sort of provision that states that if a certain company promises a large number of jobs then Scott has the authority to use the dollars without additional legislative approval. Scott said he could go along with that concept and said he had no problem with having thresholds in place.

* Gardiner briefly mentioned to Scott concerns about the use of psychotropic drugs on foster children. He relayed how Sen. Ronda Storms cared very much about the issue and that she would be pursuing it again this coming session. Gardiner also said that Storms had already met the new head of the Department of Children and Families and "hugged him.'

* Gardiner also urged the governor to help Florida retain - and even attract - Major League Baseball teams to Florida. Scott, who once was a part owner of the Texas Rangers, said he wants to make sure the state doesn't lose any more teams and that he wants to "put a focus" on many things the state can to help its sports teams and have people come to the state because of the teams.

June 28, 2010

Republican gubernatorial
candidate Bill McCollum strode before group of newspaper editors and
publishers June 17 in Sarasota and boldly proclaimed that, if elected to
the state's highest office, he would impose a two-year freeze on tax
rates for every local government in Florida.

When pressed for details,
such as how his plan would affect schools and whether it would usurp
local control of cities and towns, McCollum promised that he would spell
it all out the next day.

He
did not. Instead his campaign put out a vague press release that left
as many questions as answers about a plan that, if enacted this year,
would force local governments and schools to reduce spending by $3
billion.

Since then,
McCollum has talked little about the tax rate freeze.

It seemed like a political
mistake, pitching a far-reaching plan without having the consensus and
details to sell it. The irony is that McCollum is anything but a
newcomer, having held elected office for most of the last 30 years, from
Congress to his current job as Florida attorney general. Indeed,
McCollum's campaign has tried to portray his GOP opponent, Rick Scott, a
health care executive who has never been elected to office, as someone
that voters cannot rely on during such challenging times.

"They don't need a rookie up
here running this place who doesn't know what Tallahassee is and what
state government is all about," McCollum said earlier this month,
referring to Scott.

Yet it
is McCollum's campaign that seems to have struggled to show the
strength of the candidate's experience.

May 27, 2010

Gov. Charlie Crist could act sometime Thursday on the $70.4 billion budget that state lawmakers adopted during their spring session.

Many salient facts about the budget have been reported including that it's bigger than what Crist himself proposed, that it includes money for items only if Congress kicks in extra federal help, and that it contains many projects pushed by the two budget chiefs in the Legislature.

But there's always some interesting odds and ends that haven't gotten much attention. Some of these spending items are perennials and have been in the state budget for years and are unlikely to get vetoed by the governor.

Still it's a testament to what can get wedged into a 444-page document.

1. School funding study - $100,000. The budget sets aside $100,000 to hire an “entity
located outside the state of Florida” to study the state’s school funding
formula and review it for the “sole purpose of recommending any improvements to
the existing formula that would better reflect the varying characteristics of
each of the 67 schooldistricts.” This
study – which is due by Jan. 1, 2011 - is also supposed to assess the “equity”
of the current school funding formula.This is a big deal for South
Florida lawmakers still upset with a 2004 change to the state’s school funding
formula that used to steer more money to urban school districts to cover higher
living expenses. Legislators especially from Miami-Dade County want someone
outside the state to look at whether the revamped formula is fair. This could be the prelude to another big fight next year over school funding.

2. Some college students helped, some college students hurt. There has been publicity surrounding the proposed changes to Bright Futures - the popular merit based scholarship program paid out of Lottery ticket sales. But less noticed was a decision by state lawmakers to actually increase the amount of financial aid set aside for needy college students.

Legislators for example cut by $1 a credit hour the money available for Bright Futures. This cut, however, could even be a bit larger since $25 million is contingent on getting extra money from the federal government to help with Florida's Medicaid bill. The move comes at the same time lawmakers increased tuition by 8 percent and universities are authorized to raise tuition even higher. But lawmakers also helped out Bright Futures students attending community colleges that offer four-year degree programs.

Funding for two financial aid programs that help students at private schools - including the Florida Resident Access Grant - was cut by 4.1 percent.

But lawmakers did give a slight increase for need-based financial aid provided to both public and private school students. The maximum amount per award would go from $2,069 to $2,235.

Legislators also passed HB 5201to accompany the state budget. This would make permanent changes to Bright Futures - including making the scholarship amount a flat rate in the budget instead of tying it tuition hikes - and would increase eligibility requirements over the next four years. This same bill also contains language that establishes the doctor of pharmacy program for the University of South Florida at the polytechnic campus in Lakeland. (It would not be all that surprising if Crist vetoes this bill.)

3. Anti-abortion counseling-$2 million. Legislators expect Crist to vetoHB 1143, the health care bill that includes the requirement that women get an ultrasound if they are seeking an abortion during the first trimester. They have purposely held the bill back so there is time to mount a campaign to convince Crist to support it. What's lost in the dust-up is that more than a year ago Crist intervened and saved the state's crisis counseling program from getting cut. This program - which was started while Jeb Bush was in office - provides money for pregnancy support centers and advertising for billboards that direct people to a hotline. Lawmakers this year spared it from any cuts. There was a provision added that states 85 percent of the money will be used for "direct client services, website maintenance and Option line."

4. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty's summer homework. McCarty has been a constant target of some lawmakers the last few years especially after he urged Crist to veto last year's property deregulation bill. This year the Office of Insurance Regulation did lose 10 positions in the new budget, but its funding level was close to last year's spending. Lawmakers, however, have demanded that McCarty produce by Sept. 1 a detailed report of all residential property insurance rate filings submitted during the last fiscal year. The report has to include lots of information including the name of the OIR actuary who reviewed the rate filing and the days it took for regulators to act on the filing request. This move comes in the wake of grumbling that McCarty's office opposed some of the insurance proposals floating around this past session even though his office was approving rate hikes.

5. Motorcycle safety awareness-$250,000. This is a reduction in funding from last year, but the budget this year directly orders the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to provide this money to just one group: American Bikers Aiming Toward Education of Florida Inc. This is a group that lobbies on behalf of bikers and led the charge to repeal the requirement that bikers 21 or older must wear a helmet. The president of the organization says his group should get the money because it has a motorcycle safety awareness program in place that has helped reduce motorcycle deaths in Florida.

6. Banning assault rifles. The Sun-Sentinel first reported that there was a push to block Chief FinancialOfficer Alex Sink from using any money to purchase assault rifles for her fraud investigators. This led to a mocking ad from the Republican Party of Florida that prompted Sink to accuse the party of making fun of law-enforcement officers. Just to bring it full circle the final version of the budget included the provision that Sink's office cannot purchase "assault-type weapons."

7. Cancel this lease, we mean it. Last year the Legislature wanted to get a better handle of how land the state owned and how much office space it leased. Lawmakers weren't totally satisfied with the response they got from the state's main landlord - the Department of Management Services. This year's budget goes out of its way to specify how, when and where certain state offices are to be closed due to budget cuts. The budget orders the closing of 10 driver license offices around the state stretching from Fort Walton Beach to Vero Beach. But there's also language that lists the address and locations of other state offices in Key West, Chipley and Tallahassee that are to have their leases ended. Lawmakers also ordered the cancellation of a lease payment for a copier in a Key West office and for postage meters in several locations.

8. Unlicensed activity media campaign - $600,000. This has been in the budget for years, but it gets scant discussion. The state sets aside money to "publicize the dangers" of unlicensed real estate activity and unlicensed accountants. The money to battle unlicensed real estate activity can be used to pay for media production and advertising materials from a non-profit corporation that represents the largest number of licensed real estate professionals. The money to educate the public about unlicensed accountants will be spent in consultation with a company that represents the largest number of licensed CPAs.

9. Florida International University/Department of Health-$32.5 million. This has already gotten some publicity as a project associated with Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami and the powerful budget chief. But what's interesting is that the state plans to borrow money to construct and manage the building.

10. Free orange juice - $240,000. Of course what would a Florida welcome station be like if there wasn't free orange juice available to visitors. The Department of Citrus is authorized to spend this much for "citrus juice" to be handed out at the state's four welcome stations located in Escambia, Hamilton, Nassau and Jackson counties in North Florida.

March 22, 2010

Within 24 hours of health care reform passing in Washington D.C., we had here in Florida:

Attorney General Bill McCollum, the leading Republican candidate for governor, declare that he would file a lawsuit with nine other states as soon as Tuesday and that his decision had nothing to do with any political ambitions or attempts to place conservative critics of health care reform.

"No politics involved in this whatsover,'' said McCollum during a press conference held on Monday morning. It is all about the fact that the bill is bad and unconstitutional, he said.

About six hours later, McCollum's campaign sent out a press release attacking Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink that stated "while she provides lip service on addressing the serious challenges facing our state, Alex Sink refuses to stand with the small businessmen and small businesswomen who will be harmed by the higher taxes and government mandates this legislation will bring."

The release further states: "Fortunately, Attorney Bill McCollum is leading the charge to challenge the Democrats’ unconstitutional health care plan – showing the true leadership we need for Florida’s future.”

The attack on Sink came because after months and months of refusing to say whether or not she supported Obamacare she finally put out a statement that said she was in favor of the bill headed to the president, sort of.

"Though it is certainly not perfect, these long-overdue reforms are better than Washington continuing to do nothing to improve America's health care system.'' said Sink, the main Democratic rival to McCollum for governor.

While Sink and McCollum weighed in, the Florida Legislature jumped right into the fray as well, passing not one, but two bills out of legislative committees. One bill urges McCollum to sue, while the other would put a constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot that would say Floridians are not obligated to follow any mandates to participate in any health care systems.

"It is our duty to step up and reassert the rights of Floridians, in this case
protecting our citizen’s rights and freedoms to make appropriate decisions as it
relates to their own health care,”said Rep. Scott Plakon.

State House Democrats, in a bit of clever wordplay, announced that now was not the time to "secede" and that Republicans were having an outrageous display of partisanship and ignoring the fact that nearly 25 percent of adult Floridians were uninsured.

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio said he would launch a petition to repeal health care reform and chided his U.S. Senate rival Gov. Charlie Crist for not being strong enough on the issue. Crist's campaign pointed that he did in fact support repealing the measure. And if that wasn't enough, there was the release from the Rubio campaign that stated the road to health care reform started with the "Crist-Obama stimulus."

Lastly, the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd did robocalls to voters in the 2nd Congressional District trying to explain why he changed his vote from a no to a yes on health care reform.

His call touted the legislation as a way to stand up to insurance companies, while offering a tax credit to middle class families and help out with the deficit.

"For too long insurance companies have had too much power to determine patient coverage and care, premiums are out of control, and health care costs threaten our nation's fiscal future,'' Boyd declared in the phone call.

Health care reform he promised would "put a stop to insurance companies who deny care or cancel coverage when you get sick care."

He added that "I'm confident that with these reforms we will begin to control health care costs for our families and our country, reserve the right to choose your doctor and stop many of the abuses of the big insurance companies."

March 18, 2010

Sen. JD Alexander,
R-Lake Wales, said that he no
longer thinks that Florida’s insurance commissioner should be an
appointed official.

Alexander, who has a series of gripes about current Insurance
Commissioner Kevin McCarty, made his comments following a
contentious debate over whether the commissioner should be subject to a
confirmation vote every 2 years. The bill, SB 740,
barely squeezed out of the Senate Banking and Insurance
Committee by a 5-3 vote on Wednesday.

Alexander was one of the main architects of a bill in 2002 that
changed the commissioner from an elected official, but he said that it
was an “error” because he contended that McCarty “was more of a
politician” than a professional regulator. McCarty has come under fire
from some legislators for his handling of rate cases involving State
Farm Florida and his opposition to a bill that would
deregulate the industry.

Legislators got rid of an elected commissioner eight years ago
because they did not want the newly created Chief Financial
Officer position to have complete control over insurance. At
the time the leading contender for the job was Tom Gallagher,
who was eventually elected to the post.

March 04, 2010

Senators sitting on the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee had a chance on Wednesday to help out Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

Sink is one of those who wants to give more power and authority to the state's insurance consumer advocate, Sean Shaw. The idea is that Shaw - who reports to the CFO - should be able to intervene in insurance rate filing cases and force state regulators to receive his suggestions and recommendations.

But the amendment doing that was voted down on a narrow 5-4 vote. Guess what? It was three Democrats joining with two Republicans who killed it. The four senators who liked the idea were all Republicans.

Despite that the bill, however, got a rough hearing. Read more about it here.

February 15, 2010

While there is lots of talk about changing Medicaid, there is a growing sense of inevitability of where state lawmakers will try to wring a large amount of savings when they craft the 2010-11 state budget. And that's from state workers.

Senate President Jeff Atwater in an interview last week couldn't have been more blunt. Layoffs of state workers he said is "unavoidable." And Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, made it clear that retooling health insurance benefits and even retirement accounts is also a distinct possibility.

Atwater said that he cannot justify protecting state employees while other businesses throughout the state are shedding workers and trimming costs.

"They have changed their health plans for their fellow employees, they have had layoffs that tragically became necessary to keep the business afloat, they have furloughed employees, they have reduced wages, they have moved from the strip center back to their garage and the back bedroom to survive,'' he said. "If our orientation is that I should be preserving something here uniquely and differently than what my fellow Floridians have had to do to keep their own small business afloat, I have missed the correct orientation of my job.''

When Gov. Charlie Crist rolled out his budget proposal he made it clear that he did not think it was the "right time" to either cut state salaries or force state employees to pay more for their own health insurance, or even require the roughly 27,000 who pay no health insurance premiums to pay something.

That sentiment so far does not appear to be shared by the GOP-controlled Legislature. The political reality could be that it's easy to go after state employees because in the counties with the highest concentration of workers - except Miami-Dade - those areas lean heavily Democratic.

But it may have just as much to do with budget reality. Republicans have made it clear that they will not entertain tax increases during an election year. Federal stimulus money requirements mean that legislators can't slash expenses easily in places such as Medicaid or even school funding.

Last week the main Senate budget panel heard about how costs in the state health insurance plan are growing at 10 percent a year. That's significant since the state is expected to spend $1.8 billion on health insurance for state workers and university employees during the current budget year. Only an estimated $157 million of that will come from state worker premiums.

But it may not just be health insurance that legislators turn to. They may also force state workers to contribute to their retirement accounts.

Up until 1975 state employees did pay into the pension plan known as the Florida Retirement System. That year legislators opted against a pay raise - but wiped out the contribution requirement - a move that boosted the take home money in paychecks.

Forcing state workers to pay 1 percent of their salary toward their pension would generate an estimated $72 million a year.

Florida pays its employees on average less than employees in such states as Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky and North Carolina, according to a presentation made earlier this month by the Department of Management Services to the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee. But that same analysis showed that other states like Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana also require their workers to contribute anywhere from 1.25 percent to 7.5 percent to their retirement accounts. Tennessee does not charge employees, while Arkansas charges nothing for employees hired before 2005 but five percent for those hired after July 2005.